PHOENIX — Chicago scored its first run after an intentional balk, Lenyn Sosa hit a three-run homer and the White Sox picked up a rare road win with a 9-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night.
The balk came in the second inning, when Chicago's Martín Maldonado picked up Thyago Vieira's pitches from second base and relayed them to Andrew Vaughn.
“It was a forced balk,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “Maldonado is very crafty and he was giving signs. He was 9 for 9 — he didn't miss one. We picked up what his habit was, giving the sign to the hitter, and we just felt like it was too risky.”
Erick Fedde (5-1) was sharp, allowing two runs on eight hits in six innings with six strikeouts.
Chicago had plenty of pop a night after managing one run in the series opener, finishing with with four homers and 12 hits.
Andrew Vaughn homered and had three RBIs, Korey Lee hit a two-run shot and Paul DeJong had a solo homer in the White Sox's seventh win in 31 road games.
“On the offensive side, we're in a good moment right now,” Sosa said through an interpreter. “Like everything, that's contagious and I think that's what's happening right now.”
The Diamondbacks gave them a boost in the third inning on the intentional balk by Vieira (0-1).
With Maldonado on second, the Arizona right-hander threw several pitches in the dirt, Lovullo to make a mound visit. Lovullo told Vieira to drop the ball and he did before the next pitch, moving the slow-running Maldonado to third on the balk. Vaughn followed with single, easily scoring Maldonado.
DeJong put the White Sox hit a homer to the pool deck in right-center the following inning and Vaughn made it 4-1 with a two-run homer in the fifth. Sosa hit his second homer of the season the seventh inning and Lee hit his sixth in the ninth.
“I definitely didn't want the hitter to know what was coming and possibly put up a crooked number,” said Lovullo, who was ejected by plate umpire Nick Mahrley in the eighth inning for arguing about several borderline strike calls against the Diamondbacks. “He (Vieria) just made a mistake up over the plate with a fastball.”
Fedde left with the lead in his previous four starts, yet received a no-decision in each.
The Diamondbacks jumped on the Chicago right-hander out of the gate when Ketel Marte followed Corbin Carroll's leadoff double with run-scoring single. Fedde worked out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the second inning and gave up a sacrifice fly to Joc Pederson in the fifth.
“The offense gave me some leeway and I was able to get out of some jams,” Fedde said.
TRAINER'S TABLE
Diamondbacks: OF Alek Thomas is expected to join Triple-A Reno on a rehab assignment next week as he works his way back from a hamstring injury.
UP NEXT
White Sox RHP Drew Thorpe (0-0, 1.80 ERA) will face Diamondbacks LHP Jordan Montgomery (4-4, 6.58) in Sunday's series finale.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Arizona sports
The city of Phoenix is home to four major professional sports league teams; The NFL's Arizona Cardinals, NBA's Phoenix Suns, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Cardinals have made State Farm Stadium in Glendale their home turf and the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix is home to both the Suns and the Mercury. The Indoor Football League’s Arizona Rattlers play at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale.
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The Valley hosts multiple major sporting events every year, including college football's Fiesta Bowl and Guaranteed Rate Bowl; the PGA Tour’s highest-attended event, the WM Phoenix Open; NASCAR events each spring and fall, including Championship Weekend in November; and Cactus League Spring Training for 15 Major League Baseball franchises.
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